How to clear storage space on your iPhone without deleting any apps

You probably didn't realise you were saving your photos twice or holding on to old podcasts, but getting rid of these will free up space on your iPhone

By Alahna Kindred

13th April 2017, 2:12 pm

Updated: 11th September 2017, 1:20 pm

NO one likes to delete apps just to make space on their iPhone.

So we've rounded up the best tips and tricks to free-up some much needed space on your handset so you can squeeze the latest must-have app on to your device.

Here's the amount of storage available on my phone before I went through these steps

Are you storing texts forever?

Your iPhone stores your texts forever. It’s great when if you need to check that text from over a year ago, but not if you need the space.

To sort this out, go to your Settings and then tap Messages.

Scroll down until you see Message History and tap Keep Messages.

You can change Forever to 30 Days or 1 Year.

You will be asked if you want to do this and, if so, tap Delete.

Make sure you've backed up important message before deleting them all

Make sure you don’t double-save photos

If you use the HDR (High Dynamic Range) you’ve probably noticed that your phone saves two photos.

To stop this go to Settings and select Photos & Camera.

Scroll down to the bottom and switch off Keep Normal Photo.

The iPhone 7 Plus has an extra option for Portrait mode that you can turn off.

Swipe right to turn off the Keep Normal Photo option

If you are an avid Instagrammer you’ve probably also noticed that you phone saves two photos, the original and the one with the filter.

To stop this go into the Instagram app, tap on your profile and then hit the Settings icon in the upper-right corner.

Then turn off the Save Original Photos option.

Check the Photo Stream

This doesn’t take up as much space as the original photos, but these are duplicates of photos that you already have on your phone.

Go to Settings, then Photos & Camera and then switch off Upload to My Photo Stream.

The photos will be deleted off your phone, but will remain on the iCloud from 30 days from the date you uploaded them. Don't worry, you are not deleting any original photos from your phone or photos that have been saved on the iCloud. These will only delete the photos from your Photo Stream, not the camera roll.

Clear your browser cache

If you use Safari, you iPhone could be storing web history and data.

To clear the browser cache, open the Settings app and tap on Safari.

Scroll down and hit Clear History and Website Data.

You will asked if to make sure if you really want to do this and if you do, you should press Clear History and Data

Delete downloaded music

Not everyone is willing to part with their music.

But in the age of Spotify and Soundcloud, using your iPhone to store music has become obsolete for some.